


Certainties

by doomhamster



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Blood and Injury, F/M, Not a lot though, and a bit more fluffy, stupid Sith are marginally less stupid than in canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 11:50:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16810027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doomhamster/pseuds/doomhamster
Summary: Not a good decision, perhaps, but a better one. Let's just hope the galaxy survives.





	Certainties

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kaggath](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaggath/gifts).



> Note: this is a rewrite of the final scene in chapter 13 of the "Deceived" novel. If you haven't read that book, you may not understand what's going on here. Though, hey, there's still fluff. 
> 
> Dedicated to Kaggath, who's been rowing this gondola of a ship all alone for far too long!

The roar of the shuttle’s engines settled into a deep hum, dwindled away as it rose too high for even Force-enhanced hearing to track. Malgus watched it absently, adjusting Eleena’s weight in his arms enough that he could raise his wrist comm and speak the order that would allow it to leave.

He could hear his second-in-command’s bewilderment in between the measured syllables of “yes, my lord”, but it didn’t concern him; Jard knew better than to let it bloom into curiosity. What did worry him, in the few moments he could spare for it, was not the fact he had let an enemy go, or what others might think of it. It was the fact he did not particularly _want_ to kill Aryn Leneer – was pleased, even, that she had taken his offer of escape. After all, she had spared Eleena… and more than that, she had given him the final piece of the puzzle that had frustrated him since the fall of the Jedi Temple.

_I no longer belong to an Order,_ she’d said, choking on the words as he might have choked on the miasma of hurt welling up around her. Or perhaps on the way her words and her feeling of betrayal gave echo in his own mind. Only days ago, it would never have occurred to him to think of himself as anything other than Sith, or feel anything other than pride in the notion, in the _knowledge_ of Sith superiority to other beings through the power of the dark side and of his own supremacy among Sith by virtue of what he had been chosen to do. But now…

Anger rushed forward like water following a deep-worn riverbed, speeding his heartbeat, drawing his muscles tight. His greatest victory, turned into… what? Public glory stolen, usurped by Adraas with Angral’s support, as though either of them could have planned this strategy or seen it through without him. Private satisfaction poisoned, to the very point of doubting that this _was_ victory – or worse, that it ever could have been.

Anger turned inward, and only burned the hotter for it. For half his life he’d thought he was meant to accomplish the extinction of the Jedi, the destruction of the Republic. He’d lived and worked, bled and killed and nearly died for that goal… and never once considered what would happen when he’d achieved it. How, bereft of their natural enemies, the Sith would no longer be able to grow in strength through conflict – not unless they turned on each other, in an endless spiral of useless, petty infighting. 

Malgus knew with a painful, bone-deep certainty that no one else had thought of it either, or cared. That though the Emperor had called for peace at this time, for his own reasons, he was also the one who had driven this war, who had shaped the Empire into something it should not be. Something he could no longer serve, could no longer _tolerate –_

A soft noise of discomfort from Eleena brought him back to the moment, concern like oil on the white waters of rage. Was she waking up? He didn’t even know the extent of her injuries, if the Jedi had harmed her beyond the blow to her head.

Kneeling, he put her down on the floor, her head still safely supported on his arm as he looked her over. There was nothing obvious, no broken limbs, no burns, and the blood on her coat seemed to all be from the head wound. That, at least, was good. 

Tearing his gaze from the swollen bruise, he studied the symmetry of her face, the delicate lines that pain and determination had traced at the corners of her eyes and mouth. His heart ached, and for once he held onto the feeling.

All his training told him that the tenderness he felt for her was unworthy of a Sith, that it made him weak, vulnerable. Another thing he had never questioned. Another morsel of supposed wisdom passed down to him by the very ones who had misled and betrayed him, held him back from full understanding of the Force and of what the Sith should be.

Eleena had been his companion, his lover, his conscience for many years. Her loyalty had never faltered; she had held nothing back. _Your woman,_ Adraas had sneered, intending to insult them both, not realizing he spoke profound truth. That was very like Adraas.

As if she could feel his gaze on her, her eyes fluttered open, focusing on his face with effort. A dazed smile curled her lips. “Veradun, you are my rescuer.”

“Yes.” For all he had been driven by care for her, fear of her being hurt, rage had been there when he needed it, to defeat the one who sought to take Eleena away from him.

“Where is the woman?” Eleena raised her head, her eyes sweeping the room as best they could with him blocking most of her field of view. “The Jedi?”

“She is gone. She will never hurt you again.”

Eleena closed her eyes and leaned her head against his arm again with a contented sigh. “I knew you loved me.”

And there it was. The thing he had been shying from, even now that she was the only real certainty he had left in the galaxy.

“I do.” It _hurt_ , pulling those words out of his chest and offering them to her. The churning of emotion made tears well in his eyes, a display of weakness he had not permitted himself since childhood, but it felt right.

He must have made some sound; Eleena opened her eyes again, and reached up an unsteady hand to touch his face. “What is wrong, my love?”

“A great many things.” Instinct told him to recoil, to hide his weakness. Defiantly he held her closer instead, his own hand covering hers and holding it in place. “But not this.”

“Veradun…” She frowned, still concerned, even as she clearly struggled to keep her eyes focused.

He freed his hand to touch fingertips to her lips. “You must rest, Eleena. There is nothing to be done right now. But in time, we will make everything right. Together.” 

Soothed by his words, or perhaps just overcome by exhaustion, Eleena curled into him, burying her face in his chest. Malgus cradled her, ignoring the tears drying on his face, his mind starting to churn over possibilities even as he listened to the sounds of Kerse and his soldiers trying to force the doors. Soon he’d be able to bring Eleena back to Valor, to nurse her back to health as she’d once done for him… and then, the real work would begin.

His vision on Korriban had shown him a galaxy in flames, but it was not the Republic that required cleansing by fire.


End file.
